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{{Short description|American writer, publisher, and critic (1952–2021)}}{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2014}}

factoids

| birth_place = Devils Lake, North Dakota, U.S.2021195|31}}| death_place = Gainesville, Georgia, U.S.| area = Critic, writer| alias = DAK, Dave the DudeComics Interview,Defenders (comics)>The Defenders| awards = | spouse = Jennifer Bush-Kraft}}David Anthony Kraft (May 31, 1952WEB,weblink Obituary for David Anthony Kraft | Beck Funeral Home, Beck Funeral, Home, Obituary for David Anthony Kraft | Beck Funeral Home,weblink May 22, 2021, WEB,weblink Kraft, Dave, Jerry, Bails, Jerry Bails, n.d., Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170510111009weblink">weblink May 10, 2017, live, mdy-all, – May 19, 2021) was an American comic book writer, publisher, and critic. He was primarily known for his long-running journal of interviews and criticism, Comics Interview, as well as for work for Marvel Comics in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Writing career

Before his comics career, Kraft worked as a rock and roll journalist.WEB,weblink David Anthony Kraft, 2007, Dragon Con,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110520114420weblink">weblink May 20, 2011, dead, mdy-all, August 17, 2008, In September 1976, he became editor of FOOM with issue #15,WEB,weblink FOOM #15, Sam, Ruby, Fall 1976,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100131175657weblink">weblink January 31, 2010, dead, mdy-all, Marvel's self-produced fan magazine, lasting as editor until the magazine's final issue (#22) in 1978.WEB,weblink FOOM #22, Sam, Ruby, Fall 1978,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120218150628weblink">weblink February 18, 2012, dead, mdy-all, Known for his offbeat approach, Kraft first made a name for himself as a comic book author with his work on Marvel Comics' The Defenders,JOURNAL, DeAngelo, Daniel, The Not-Ready-For-Super-Team Players A History of the Defenders, Back Issue!, 65, 9–11, TwoMorrows Publishing, July 2013, Raleigh, North Carolina, particularly the 1977 "Scorpio Saga" story-arc (issues #46, 48–50).WEB,weblink Who Remembers Scorpio?, D. K., Latta, The Masked Bookwyrm,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20061113140151weblink">weblink November 13, 2006, dead, mdy-all, August 15, 2008, In The Defenders, Kraft wrestled with large philosophical issues: the temptations of power, the Cold War and nuclear power, sibling rivalry, and growing old alone. Scorpio also listened to a record by Edgard Varèse.WEB,weblink The Defenders (1972) #48 - Read the Defenders (1972) Issue #48 Page 4, Kraft also merged his interests in music and comics by inserting multiple references to the band Blue Öyster Cult into his Defenders stories specifically the "Xenogenesis: Day of the Demons" storyline, issues #58–60.WEB,weblink Blue Öyster Cult FAQ, John, Swartz, December 10, 2001,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070209142407weblink">weblink February 9, 2007, dead, mdy-all, September 17, 2008, References to Blue Oyster Cult songs are sprinkled throughout the "Xenogenesis: Day of the Demons" storyline in Marvel's The Defenders comic. The issues are Vol.1, 58–60 dated April, May and June 1978. The story is by David Anthony Kraft and the first comic in the trilogy is "Dedicated to Eric Bloom and BOC!", Kraft combined music and comics in his scripting of the Marvel Super Special #4 featuring The Beatles. Marvel Super Special #7, an adaptation of the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, by Kraft and artists George Pérez and Jim Mooney was promoted on the "Bullpen Bulletins" page in Marvel Comics cover-dated January 1979. It was never published in the U.S. "because the book was late and the movie proved to be a commercial failure," according to a contemporaneous news account.JOURNAL, The Sgt. Pepper Snafu, The Comics Journal, 44, 12, Fantagraphics Books, January 1979, Stamford, Connecticut, Kraft wrote the Man-Wolf feature in Creatures on the Loose and Marvel Premiere and featured the character in The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #3 (1981).BOOK, Manning, Matthew K., Gilbert, Laura, 1980s, Spider-Man Chronicle Celebrating 50 Years of Web-Slinging, Dorling Kindersley, 2012, London, United Kingdom, 121, 978-0756692360, John Jameson and his werewolf alter ego Man-Wolf returned in this yarn by writer David Kraft and penciler Jim Sherman., He wrote the entire run, except the first issue, of Savage She-Hulk, which ran from 1980 to 1982. Kraft worked on such titles as Captain America and scripted the first story drawn by John Byrne for Marvel Comics: "Dark Asylum," published in Giant-Size Dracula #5 (June 1975).JOURNAL, Isabella, Tony, Tony Isabella, Tony's Tips, Comics Buyer's Guide, 1433, Krause Publications, May 4, 2001, Iola, Wisconsin,weblink mdy-all, September 17, 2008, In the early to mid-1980s Kraft wrote children's storybooks featuring Marvel characters such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, and the Fantastic Four for the Children's Press, Marvel Books and Simon & Schuster. During this same time he wrote the interactive game books Ghost Knights of Camelot for Avon, and Robot Race for Scholastic books. In 1983–1984, Kraft wrote World's Finest Comics for DC Comics,JOURNAL, Addiego, Frankie, The Final Days of World's Finest, Back Issue!, 73, 66–67, TwoMorrows Publishing, July 2014, Raleigh, North Carolina, including that series' issue #300 (Feb. 1984).BOOK, Manning, Matthew K., Dolan, Hannah, 1980s, DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle, Dorling Kindersley, 2010, London, United Kingdom, 978-0-7566-6742-9, 206, In the tradition of DC's anniversary editions, World's Finest Comics #300 was an extra-length issue contributed to by a variety of comic book talent. Written by David Anthony Kraft, Mike W. Barr, and Marv Wolfman, and illustrated by Ross Andru, Mark Texeira, Sal Amendola, and George Pérez., After that, Kraft did occasional comics writing, but mostly focused his energies on publishing and criticism. In 1995, Kraft worked as story-editor and scripter for the short-lived animated series G.I. Joe Extreme. Kraft was the co-writer and editor of Yi Soon Shin: Warrior and Defender by Onrie Kompan Productions, LLC.

Publisher, critic and literary agent

Fictioneer Books

In 1974, Kraft founded the specialty science fiction publisher Fictioneer Books. Over the years, Fictioneer published books by such authors as A. E. van Vogt, Robert E. Howard, Jack London, Otis Adelbert Kline, and Don McGregor.Fictioneer and its imprint Comics Interview Group published magazines including David Anthony Kraft's Comics Interview, the newspaper-comic-strip reprint magazine Comics Revue, and trade journals such as the trade text 100 Hot Tips from Top Comics Creators (1994). In early 1985 Comics Interview Group branched out into comic books by taking on Henry and Audrey Vogel's Southern Knights (previously a self-published series). In 1986 they expanded their comics lineup with (M.I.C.R.A.: Mind Controlled Remote Automaton|M.I.C.R.A.) and Aristocratic Xtraterrestrial Time-Traveling Thieves, and began publishing a number of Southern Knights reprints in the form of graphic novels, one-shots, and limited series. Though 1988 saw them also introduce Julie Woodcock and Brian Stelfreeze's CyCops, none of their comics publications sold as well as Southern Knights, and by the end of that year they had stopped publishing any other titles. In mid-1989 Southern Knights was canceled as well, and the Comics Interview imprint was again devoted solely to magazines and trade publications although they would co-publish Southern Knights No. 35 and 36 in 1992.

Comics Interview

In 1983, Kraft founded David Anthony Kraft's Comics Interview, which ran for 150 issuesJOURNAL, Newswatch: Comics Interview Gives Up the Ghost, The Comics Journal, 183, 28, Fantagraphics Books, January 1996, Seattle, Washington, between 1983 and 1995,WEB,weblink Index to the Comic Art Collection, Michigan State University Libraries,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100616091407weblink">weblink June 16, 2010, live, mdy-all, and garnered Eisner and Eagle Award nominations. As suggested by the title, each issue of Comics Interview was filled entirely with in-depth creator interviews.

Literary agent

Since 1974, Kraft was the literary agent for the estate of pulp author Otis Adelbert Kline.

Influences and personal life

Kraft counted science fiction author Leigh Brackett, Stan Lee, and writer E. Hoffmann Price as mentors. He lived in Clayton, Georgia.{{citation needed|date=January 2014}}Kraft died from COVID-19 on May 19, 2021.WEB, 2021-05-20, David A. Kraft, Iconic Defenders Writer, Comics Journalist, Has Passed Away,weblink 2021-05-20, CBR, en-US, He is survived by his wife, Jennifer Bush-Kraft and son, Bryce William Davidson Bush.WEB, Fassett, Ryan, 2021-05-20, Writer and Publisher David Anthony Kraft Has Passed Away,weblink 2021-05-20, Bleeding Cool News And Rumors, en,

Bibliography

Books

• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Junior Press, 1979)
• The Compleat OAK Leaves: Volume One of the Official Journal of Otis Adelbert Kline and his Works (editor) (Fictioneer Press, 1980)
• Stan Lee Presents the Incredible Hulk pop-up book (Marvel Comics Group, 1980)
• Captain America: The Secret Story of Marvel's Star-Spangled Super Hero (Children's Press, 1981)
• The Fantastic Four: The Secret Story of Marvel's Cosmic Quartet (Children's Press, 1981)
• The Incredible Hulk: The Secret Story of Marvel's Gamma-powered Goliath (Children's Press, 1981)
• Attack of the Tarantula (Intervisual Communications, 1982)
• The Dark Crystal (Marvel Books, 1982)
• Stan Lee Presents the Incredible Hulk Pop-up Book, "Trapped" (Marvel Comics Group, 1982)
• Fantastic Four vs. the Frightful Four coloring book (Marvel Books, 1983)
• Heathcliff, 1 Cat at the Show coloring and activity book (Marvel Books, 1983)
• Heathcliff at The Circus coloring book (Marvel Books, 1983)
• The Treasure of Time (Marvel Books, 1983)
• The Amazing Spider-Man: The Big Top Mystery (Marvel Books, 1984)
• The Amazing Spider-Man and Wolverine in The Crime of the Centuries (Marvel Books, 1984)
• Ghost Knights of Camelot (Avon Books, 1984) {{ISBN|978-0-380-89276-1}}
• Micro Adventure no. 6: Robot Race (Scholastic, 1984) {{ISBN|0-590-33170-1}}
• Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars: Captain America and Iron Man in Escape from Doom (Budget Books, 1986)
• Marvel Super Heroes Jumbo Coloring & Activity Book (Marvel Books, 1987)

Short stories

• "Incantation," Weirdbook 3, 1970
• "Myrra," Amazing Science Fiction Stories, September 1971

Comic books

Atlas/Seaboard Comics

• Demon Hunter 1 (1975)

DC Comics

• Blackhawk 247–248 (1976)
• Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth 44–46 (1976)
• Richard Dragon, Kung-Fu Fighter 11–12 (1976)
• Secret Society of Super Villains 2–4 (1976)
• Swamp Thing 24 (1976)
• Tarzan 254 (1976)
• World's Finest Comics 293, 295–300, 302–307 (1983–1984)

Marvel Comics

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• Captain America 265–266, 271, 273–274 (1982)
• Creatures on the Loose 33–37 (Man-Wolf) (1975)
• Defenders 44–56, 58–68, 89 (1977–1980)
• Giant-Size Dracula 4–5 (1975)
• Haunt of Horror 5 (1975)
• The Hulk 24 (1980)
• Logan's Run 2–5 (1977)
• Marvel Comics Super Special 4 (The Beatles Story) (1978)
• Marvel Fanfare 4, 17 (1982–1984)
• Marvel Premiere 45–46 (1978–1979)
• Marvel Preview 12–14 (1977–1978)
• Marvel Spotlight 33 (1977)
• Marvel Super Special 7 (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band); 24 (The Dark Crystal) (1979–1983)
• Marvel Super-Heroes vol. 2 15 (1993)
• Marvel Team-Up 109 (1981)
• Marvel Two-in-One 41, 88–89, 94–95 (1978–1983)
• Savage She-Hulk 2–25 (1980–1982)
• The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual 3 (1981)
• Tales of the Zombie 8 (1974)
• Tarzan 12, 15–21 (1978–1979)
• Thor 252 (Tales of Asgard backup story) (1976)
• Thor 253 (Tales of Asgard backup story) (1976)
• What If...? 37 (1983)

{{div col end}}

Television

• G.I. Joe Extreme (1996-1997)

References

{{reflist|30em}}

External links

• {{comicbookdb|type=creator|id=697|title=David Anthony Kraft}}
• {{gcdb publisher|id= 487 |title=Fictioneer Books}}
• David Anthony Kraft at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
• David Anthony Kraft at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
• Alphabetical index of the first 100 issues of Comics Interview.
• {{IMDb name|id=5195868}}
• {{Isfdb name|id=14667}}

{{Authority control}}